Thursday, January 19, 2012

JUSTICE IS SERVED

I have been following in the local paper, a lawsuit by a giant in the bicycle industry against a tiny, two person bicycle manufacturer. Both firms make high end bikes -- four to five thousand dollars each. The giant accused the tiny one of stealing the giant’s secret designs. The tiny firm countered by saying that the giant simply did not want any competition, and wanted to drive Tiny out of business.

It seems both of the individuals at Tiny (named Volagi) had worked at Giant, and Giant contended that one of the two fellow began planning his own competing company while working at Giant Not supposed to do that.

As the trial progressed, the judge threw out many of Giant’s claims, the most important being the claim of theft of trade secrets. Nonetheless, the jury found that the one former employee had violated his contract obligations because he began planning his own firm while still employed by Giant.

As a result, Giant was awarded damages

in

the

stupendous

amount

of

--

--

--

Keep going

--

--

Almost there

--

--

One dollar!

Both sides claimed victory. Giant released a statement claiming to be satisfied with the amount awarded because “... the lawsuit was a matter of principle.”

In the meantime, Tiny (Volagi) is still in business.

So who won? It makes a difference, as each side spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Both sides can seek reimbursement, claiming that they won. Pardon me, while I go eat a piece of chocolate.

Fun --

From the court house to the office -- cartoons, that is. Thank you, Marty.

4 comments:

Until we had an electrician come out and fix what the previous one did, if you turned on the microwave and the toaster here, someone always had to go stumbling around in the dark to find the outside circuit breaker. Still true if you throw in the Christmas tree lights. And now you know the real reason we take down the tree.